Half-Life 2 release candidate ready next week?
Valve Software is preparing to submit release candidates of Half-Life 2 to publisher Vivendi-Universal Games next week, although there's speculation that the game could now ship in November.
Valve Software plans to ship Half-Life 2 release candidates to publisher Vivendi-Universal Games on 15th September, it emerged late last week, amidst speculation that the game itself might not hit retailers' shelves until November.
Gamers subscribed to Valve's Steam content delivery service have already downloaded around 2GB of encrypted "preload" content, increasing anticipation that the game might be available to them within just a few weeks. However, neither developer nor publisher has been able to clarify precisely when the game will be released.
"We're currently planning to send release candidates to Vivendi by September 15th," Valve marketing man Doug Lombardi said last week. "However, VUG hasn't given us a ship date yet. Might be best for you to ask them directly."
Unsurprisingly, Vivendi's response was "No comment," in light of a Wedbush Morgan report issued last week that put the game on store shelves in November. Commenting on the potential success of PC games this year, analyst Michael Pachter said that his firm expected three PC games to pass the one-million-unit threshold, including "November's Vivendi-Universal (V-Not Rated) release Half-Life 2."